Contaminated Water Suspected in Pakistan’s Deadly Outbreak

Authorities suspected that contaminated drinking water caused the deaths of 18 people and sickened 150 others this week in west-central Pakistan, an official said Thursday. Thirty people were in serious condition.

The deaths occurred over the last two days in the district of Zhob, about 155 miles northeast of Quetta, said Abdur Rahim, a doctor at the Civil Hospital in the area’s main town of Zhob.

The victims, including six children between the ages of 7 and 12, were admitted to the hospital with diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps. About 150 other people were being treated for similar symptoms and 30 of them were in serious condition, he said.

Many of those sickened came from the towns of Sambaza, Sherani and Kakar Khurasan, where villagers often use rainwater, stored in outdoor ponds, for drinking and washing, Rahim said.

Water samples will be tested to determine the cause of the contamination, he said.